Motoring From Moora

190 kilometres. On a cold winter’s day to get to the BP service station.. for a cold winter’s night. Now that’s dedication. The owner drove this 80’s Chrysler down last Saturday week to Baldivis.

The car was found by the owner under a tree on his grandfather’s property, he tells me. It needed work, and he knows someone who can do body work.

The side chrome strips have gone and the holes are welded up – it wasn’t so much a custom job as the fact that the old trim strips had gone to the pack and it wasn’t fair to put them back on such a nice bit of body work.

Likewise, the owner had to come to a decision about the bumpers. Re-chroming is expensive and you need to have a good base to do it on. In the end he decided that body colour paint was the way to go – and as this is a perfectly valid styling decision these days I think he made a good choice. Let’s face it – drivers of hot rod and custom cars take better care of them as far as protecting the bumpers and sides than 99.9% of the general population ( make that 127% of the general population of Winthrop and Leeming in the shopping centre car parks…) so a coat of good-looking paint is as good as hard chrome.

Mind you, being from Moora begs the question of kangaroos on the road at twilight, so a roo bar made of heavy channel iron would also be a comfort…

Back to reality – the owner looked at the old round mirrors on the Chrysler and tried to see out of them. Chrysler in their day did not make this easy, so he decided on a new set. They match the line of the side pretty well, and will be much more functional.

Nice choice of wheels and tyres – in proportion to the size and sit of the body. This is not a car that would reward low-lines and the road up to Geraldton that Moora lies along would not do so either. This is Australia and you’ve got to be a bit sensible about things of you are going to have a runner instead of a show poser.

One thing I wondered about – those 190 Km can get dirty at times – yet the Chrysler is clean as a whistle. Did he give it a wash as soon as he hit town? That’s dedication and showmanship! Let’s hope we see more chaps like this.